The International Criminal Court (ICC) will not be affected by pro- and anti-Duterte rallies in The Hague and any fake news against its judges.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte is currently detained in The Hague to stand trial on charges of crimes against humanity in relation to the anti-drugs campaign during his presidency.
According to ICC spokesperson Dr. Fadi El Abdallah, demonstrations and misinformation will not distract the international court from its our core tasks and core responsibility “to apply the law in an objective and impartial way.”
“We do not consider that this should be something that would be distracting our focus from what we have to do,” he said in a televised interview.
Abdallah said there will always be “some passionate and heated individuals” on social media who will say things about the ICC and the people associated with it, adding that there are also individuals who will try to “show the objective nature of things.”
“I think the main and important thing is to focus on the one thing which is delivering justice in the best conditions for the victims and to ensure the truth is revealed about the guilt or innocence of any person who is accused,” he said.
The ICC official noted that events happening outside the court do not matter in the trial as the judges are focused on the evidence that is presented to them by the defense and the prosecution and their decision will be based on the files they have seen.
“They are not taking into account any other elements that are not in the files before them so this type of action is showing support to certain suspects but it’s not part of the findings before the judges, it’s not presented to them, it doesn’t have any impact on the proceedings,” Abdallah said.
He urged the public who are aware of the trial to “respect the process” of the court.
“It’s not about being passionate. It’s about being objective and impartial and applying the law and checking the evidence thoroughly and ensuring that the rights of the defense are respected and if the rights of the victims are respected,” he said.
Duterte appeared before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC on 14 March and is scheduled for a confirmation of charges hearing on 23 September.